In the last few days I have been sidetracked from my own research by a little mystery concerning someone who was only indirectly of interest to me, genealogically speaking.
I had begun to look for the birth of Emma Mellish who had married my paternal grandfather's 2nd cousin, Hermann Renelt. Because I couldn't find what I was looking for (it transpired that Emma's name had been entered as Milesh in the Birth Index!) I started tracing Emma's family, knowing from her marriage registration that her father was Alexander Thomas Mellish, Alexander, it turned out, had married a woman named Mary Ann Snarey, born in Stamford, Lincolnshire in 1853.
However, when I did find Emma's entry in the Birth Registration Index at the GRO site I found that her mother's maiden name was given as Mears, as it was for some of her siblings who I had found in the 1851 Census. I turned to the Public Member Trees on Ancestry to see if anyone else was researching this family. Now that I had found Emma Mellish's Birth Registration entry I wasn't too bothered about finding out more about her family, she being somewhat on the periphery of my tree, but I was curious about the discrepancy in the names. I found a tree which seemed to have quite a lot of information and the Owner had recently logged in to Ancestry so I sent a message, detailing my interest in the family and asking if the person could shed any light on the little mystery.
The tree Owner responded very promptly and told me a lot about Mary Ann, who had apparently co-habited and produced children with a Robert Mears some time after her marriage to Ocatavius. She appeared in several Censuses with Robert and the various children, all of whom were described as Son or Daughter and bore the surname Mears. The Owner rather got the impression that "someone was trying to hide something" as there was such variation in the listed birthplaces of the children. Robert himself was shown as being born in the USA on one Census and in Lincolnshire on another!
So, no conclusion so far. I said I would look into it a bit more as I was really intrigued and I did spend several hours scouring various websites but was not able to come up with a satisfactory explanation. The Ancestry tree Owner had mentioned that both the names Sneary and Mears appeared on the Marriage Register entry for Alexander Mellish and Mary Ann, so rather belatedly I went back for another look because I hadn't noticed this before and thought it just said "Mary Ann Snarey."
It turned out that the two names appeared among the Witnesses and indeed this just added to the mystery! On the first line had been written "Octavius Snarey", but this was crossed out and "Robert Mears" written above with an undecipherable "squiggle" prefacing it. On the line below was written originally "Emma Snarey" but "Snarey" was crossed out and Mears written instead, apparently by the same hand as had written "Robert Mears." Who was Emma Snarey/Mears? I wondered. I looked at more Censuses and discovered that was listed in 1881 as a daughter-in-law of Robert Mears, apparently the wife of Robert Mears junior, but I have not found a Marriage record.
I started looking again - and in vain - for the death of Octavius and it suddenly hit me what must - I am sure - be the explanation. I believe that Octavius Snarey and Robert Mears were one and the same person. This would account for the Witnesses entry in the Marriage Register entry and also explains the apparent disappearance of Octavius.
I am reminded of the case of my 3rd Great Grandfather, whose marriage record I couldn't find for many years. I knew him only as Joseph Pitt, but then I found the Marriage Register entry of his 12th and last child and she named her father as Joseph Dineage Pitt. Dineage? Where did that come from? I then discovered he had been Joseph Dinnage when he married and Joseph Dinnage or Dineage when each of his first 10 children had been baptized, but become Joseph Pitt with the last 2.
They don't make it easy, do they?!
Tuesday 1 May 2018
Friday 26 May 2017
Eliza Large was ...
Not for the first time (nor the second or third or ...) I have proved that it pays to "advertise" because it so often brings aid from fellow genealogists. In this instance, I had posted my query concerning Eliza Large (see my previous post, "Who was Eliza Large?") to the newsgroup soc.genealogy.britain because I have found the members of that group to be knowledgeable and always ready to advise and assist.
As usual, the response was positive with several posters offering suggestions to point me towards further research. Then I heard from professional genealogist Richard Carruthers-Zurowski who hails from West Vancouver, Canada.
Richard explained that he was related to Benjamin Large, the father of Eliza, and he was able to pass on quite a lot of information concerning the Large family that he and his cousin had assembled. He suggested that - as I had also thought - the Parish Register entry showing Eliza's mother as Mary was an error. Furthermore, he was able to furnish me with details of the Memorial Inscription on Susanna (Matthews) Large's gravestone which confirmed that she was the daughter of Thomas & Mary Matthews and probably died soon after giving birth to Eliza.
A little later Richard was able to slot the last brick into the wall when he found the Parish Register entry for the marriage of Sarah West to Benjamin Large. I must express not only my very grateful thanks to Richard for this (and all the information he has provided) but also much admiration because the record was very badly indexed by Ancestry. I'm going to blame Ancestry for me not finding it, but in truth I have to admit it might have something to do with the fact that I keep forgetting that some of the parishes near to Highworth and where my ancestors' families often resided are actually over the county border in Gloucestershire!
So actually three lessons learned here: publish your searches and queries to get help from others; keep your searches very broad to account for mistranscriptions, etc; and know your geography!
Richard's blog can be found at http://vademecumgenealogy.blogspot.ca/. Do look it up.
Until next time ... cheers!
As usual, the response was positive with several posters offering suggestions to point me towards further research. Then I heard from professional genealogist Richard Carruthers-Zurowski who hails from West Vancouver, Canada.
Richard explained that he was related to Benjamin Large, the father of Eliza, and he was able to pass on quite a lot of information concerning the Large family that he and his cousin had assembled. He suggested that - as I had also thought - the Parish Register entry showing Eliza's mother as Mary was an error. Furthermore, he was able to furnish me with details of the Memorial Inscription on Susanna (Matthews) Large's gravestone which confirmed that she was the daughter of Thomas & Mary Matthews and probably died soon after giving birth to Eliza.
A little later Richard was able to slot the last brick into the wall when he found the Parish Register entry for the marriage of Sarah West to Benjamin Large. I must express not only my very grateful thanks to Richard for this (and all the information he has provided) but also much admiration because the record was very badly indexed by Ancestry. I'm going to blame Ancestry for me not finding it, but in truth I have to admit it might have something to do with the fact that I keep forgetting that some of the parishes near to Highworth and where my ancestors' families often resided are actually over the county border in Gloucestershire!
So actually three lessons learned here: publish your searches and queries to get help from others; keep your searches very broad to account for mistranscriptions, etc; and know your geography!
Richard's blog can be found at http://vademecumgenealogy.blogspot.ca/. Do look it up.
Until next time ... cheers!
Tuesday 23 May 2017
Who was Eliza Large?
My 5th Great Grandfather, Thomas Matthews of Highworth, Wiltshire
wrote his will in 1816 and made a bequest to his "Granddaur Eliza Large
the sum of two hundred pounds secured by the Note of hand of her father
Benjamin Large to be paid her on her attaining her age of twenty one years." Thomas's daughter, Mary Matthews of Highworth, wrote her Will in
1823 and made a bequest to "my niece Eliza Large". Thomas's son-in-law, David West who was my 4th Great Grandfather and
husband of Elizabeth West, Thomas's eldest child, wrote his Will in 1836 and made reference to
his daughter Sarah Large.
There is a Church Register record of a marriage in 1806 in Highworth between bachelor Benjamin Large and spinster Susanna Matthews. Witnesses are Thomas Matthews and Sarah West. Now, Grandfather Thomas Matthews had 13 children: Elizabeth, Mary, Martha, Thomas, Ann, Ann, Frances, Sarah, Jane, Susanna, William, Thomas & Sophia. The first Thomas, the first Ann, Sarah & Sophia all died in infancy or childhood and 8 of others are beneficiaries in their father's Will, leaving just Susanna unaccounted for.
There are Baptisms Records from Down Ampney, Gloucestershire for 7 children born between 1807 and 1816. 6 of them have parents Benjamin and Sarah, but the first, Eliza, is said to be the child of Benjamin & Mary. I cannot find any record of a marriage between Benjamin Large and Sarah West, or a likely birth of an Eliza to Benjamin Large and Sarah.
All the right elements are there in these records, but they don't quite match up! It's "doin' me 'ead in!"
The Eliza Large born in Down Ampney in 1807 went on to marry Walter Harris, a baker in Highworth. I have yet to investigate a possibly relationship between Walter and the Richard Harris who married Thomas Matthews' daughter Martha.
There is now, 3 days later, an answer to the question posed here. Please see my next post, "Eliza Large was ..."
Footnote: David West's daughter Maria and her husband John Arthur Dodd were my 4th Great Grandparents. A previous researcher in my family believed John Arthur and Maria were cousins, but I think it is more likely they were 2nd cousins, John Arthur's maternal grandmother being a Hannah West from Coln St Aldwyn's, Gloucestershire. Hannah's husband was a John Compton: family rumour has it he was related to Compton McKenzie and Fay Compton. Great scope for more research on this branch of the family!
Until next time ... Cheers!
There is a Church Register record of a marriage in 1806 in Highworth between bachelor Benjamin Large and spinster Susanna Matthews. Witnesses are Thomas Matthews and Sarah West. Now, Grandfather Thomas Matthews had 13 children: Elizabeth, Mary, Martha, Thomas, Ann, Ann, Frances, Sarah, Jane, Susanna, William, Thomas & Sophia. The first Thomas, the first Ann, Sarah & Sophia all died in infancy or childhood and 8 of others are beneficiaries in their father's Will, leaving just Susanna unaccounted for.
There are Baptisms Records from Down Ampney, Gloucestershire for 7 children born between 1807 and 1816. 6 of them have parents Benjamin and Sarah, but the first, Eliza, is said to be the child of Benjamin & Mary. I cannot find any record of a marriage between Benjamin Large and Sarah West, or a likely birth of an Eliza to Benjamin Large and Sarah.
All the right elements are there in these records, but they don't quite match up! It's "doin' me 'ead in!"
The Eliza Large born in Down Ampney in 1807 went on to marry Walter Harris, a baker in Highworth. I have yet to investigate a possibly relationship between Walter and the Richard Harris who married Thomas Matthews' daughter Martha.
There is now, 3 days later, an answer to the question posed here. Please see my next post, "Eliza Large was ..."
Footnote: David West's daughter Maria and her husband John Arthur Dodd were my 4th Great Grandparents. A previous researcher in my family believed John Arthur and Maria were cousins, but I think it is more likely they were 2nd cousins, John Arthur's maternal grandmother being a Hannah West from Coln St Aldwyn's, Gloucestershire. Hannah's husband was a John Compton: family rumour has it he was related to Compton McKenzie and Fay Compton. Great scope for more research on this branch of the family!
Until next time ... Cheers!
Saturday 25 February 2017
Who married who?
I rather enjoyed myself the other day when my sister asked me for help to solve a little puzzle. It's always a good feeling when one can find the solution to a little mystery.
Returning to researching her husband's family tree after a couple of years' break, Angie reviewed her previous progress and found that she had Samuel Heys married to Kate Jane Hemus in 1892 (as did several people with public trees on Ancestry - possibly all copied from my sister's!) but with the aid of the new indexes at the GRO site, she found that Samuel's children had a mother with the maiden name of Fallows. There were no listings with the same reference for both Samuel Heys and a female Fallows, but there was a Clarissa Fallows married in the same district, same quarter, but with a different page number.
There were only 3 entries on the page which included Clarissa, but 5 entries on Samuel's page, suggesting that perhaps the index entry for Samuel had the wrong page number. So Angie then looked for Samuel in the 1911 Census and saw from the transcript that he wife's name was Christine. She asked me if her reasoning was correct and that Christine and Clarissa were one and the same.
My first move was to look up Alfred Bright Sear, one of the marriage entries, in the 1911 Census. I chose him because his name was fairly distinctive and the 1911 Census because middle names are most likely to appear there. Alfred showed up as having been married for only 14 years, but he had a 17-yr-old daughter, suggesting a previous marriage; and what's more, his daughter's name was Kate Jane! So I then turned to the GRO website and found that Kate Jane's mother's maiden name was indeed Hemus. (Incidentally, Kate Jane senior died the same year her daughter was born, so possibly as a result of childbirth complications.)
Next I looked up Samuel Heys in the 1911 Census and again I looked at the image, not just the transcription. (Sometimes we have to make do with a transcription, but always look at the original or an image of it, if possible.) I read that Samuel and his wife Catherine had only been married for 10 years, but his children were 18, 16 and 14. Back to FreeBMD to look for a marriage of Samuel Heys to a Catherine in about 1901 and find entries for Samuel Heys and Catherine White in December Q 1901.
The last step was to look for the death of Clarissa Heys, sometime between the marriage in 1892 and Samuel's marriage in 1901. Fortunately, Clarissa Heys is not a common name and there is only one entry in that period - June Q 1900.
It's worth nothing that I used 3 different websites to work on this problem, although 2 would have done: Ancestry or FindMyPast have the 1911 Census and Marriage Indexes but only the GRO site has mother's maiden name on the Birth Indexes prior to the September quarter of 1911. Contrary to what's implied in the television advertisements, just typing your name in Ancestry does not reveal everything you want to know about your forbears! And especially if you blindly copy what others have written, rather than doing your own research!
Until next time ... cheers!
Returning to researching her husband's family tree after a couple of years' break, Angie reviewed her previous progress and found that she had Samuel Heys married to Kate Jane Hemus in 1892 (as did several people with public trees on Ancestry - possibly all copied from my sister's!) but with the aid of the new indexes at the GRO site, she found that Samuel's children had a mother with the maiden name of Fallows. There were no listings with the same reference for both Samuel Heys and a female Fallows, but there was a Clarissa Fallows married in the same district, same quarter, but with a different page number.
There were only 3 entries on the page which included Clarissa, but 5 entries on Samuel's page, suggesting that perhaps the index entry for Samuel had the wrong page number. So Angie then looked for Samuel in the 1911 Census and saw from the transcript that he wife's name was Christine. She asked me if her reasoning was correct and that Christine and Clarissa were one and the same.
My first move was to look up Alfred Bright Sear, one of the marriage entries, in the 1911 Census. I chose him because his name was fairly distinctive and the 1911 Census because middle names are most likely to appear there. Alfred showed up as having been married for only 14 years, but he had a 17-yr-old daughter, suggesting a previous marriage; and what's more, his daughter's name was Kate Jane! So I then turned to the GRO website and found that Kate Jane's mother's maiden name was indeed Hemus. (Incidentally, Kate Jane senior died the same year her daughter was born, so possibly as a result of childbirth complications.)
Next I looked up Samuel Heys in the 1911 Census and again I looked at the image, not just the transcription. (Sometimes we have to make do with a transcription, but always look at the original or an image of it, if possible.) I read that Samuel and his wife Catherine had only been married for 10 years, but his children were 18, 16 and 14. Back to FreeBMD to look for a marriage of Samuel Heys to a Catherine in about 1901 and find entries for Samuel Heys and Catherine White in December Q 1901.
The last step was to look for the death of Clarissa Heys, sometime between the marriage in 1892 and Samuel's marriage in 1901. Fortunately, Clarissa Heys is not a common name and there is only one entry in that period - June Q 1900.
It's worth nothing that I used 3 different websites to work on this problem, although 2 would have done: Ancestry or FindMyPast have the 1911 Census and Marriage Indexes but only the GRO site has mother's maiden name on the Birth Indexes prior to the September quarter of 1911. Contrary to what's implied in the television advertisements, just typing your name in Ancestry does not reveal everything you want to know about your forbears! And especially if you blindly copy what others have written, rather than doing your own research!
Until next time ... cheers!
Tuesday 14 February 2017
Travelling far and ... not so far
To-day I've been working with members of my Chandler family - rather distant members, I must admit.
Firstly, I was looking at the family of Joseph Ashbee (born about 1800 in Kent) who married Jane Faith (born 1804 in Kent) who was my ½ 1st Cousin 5 times removed (!). Joseph and Jane, who married in 1826, had 6 children, 5 of whom survived to appear with them in the 1841 Census. But then where did they go? I thought I might have found Joseph and 2 of his sons in 1851, but I wasn't convinced and where was Jane?
After a while, I discovered that the family had emigrated to the United States and settled in Madison, New Haven County, Connecticut. I have yet to discover whether all 5 children went with them, but certainly the youngest 2 did. These were James Douglas Ashbee and Emma Elizabeth Ann Ashbee. I still have work to do on this family, but I know that James married and that he and his parents can be found on the Find A Grave website. James must have done quite well for himself because he had sufficient money to make several journeys between England and the United States and a welcome find on Ancestry was his application for a passport, which included a photograph of him. I am always thrilled to find a picture of a relative: it's lovely to know what they looked like.
I then moved on to Jane's brother Francis Faith (baptised 1897 in Denton, Kent.) I had found his marriage to Alice Austen a few years ago, but had not pursued them any further at that time. Francis and Alice are slightly less common names so I thought they should be fairly easy to track. First of all I found them in 1841, living in Denton as expected and Francis described as a Farmer. Living with them was a 6 yr-old child named Mary Faith, This appears to be their daughter, but surprising that they apparently only had one child after about 17 years of marriage!
The baptism of Mary Ann Faith in 1835 to parents Francis & Alice suggests that the Mary of the Census is indeed their daughter, but rather surprisingly Francis is described as an Innkeeper, living "up the hill from Folkestone" and the Baptism took place in Folkestone. I then found what appeared to be Francis's death, but if it is him, he was then living in Canterbury. So then to find Alice in 1851: I was pleased to see her in Canterbury, and with her daughter Mary Ann, but was brought up short when I saw her age of 45, which would mean she was born in 1805 or 1806. I rushed off to check whether I'd made a mistake in the marriage date, which I had recorded as 1817! I knew she had married "with the consent of parents" but even so ...! Yes, the marriage date was correct, so if this is indeed the right person, she followed the well-worn tradition of ladies knocking a few years off here and there.
When she died in 1857, her age was given (in the Death Index on the GRO website) as 56, which seems much more realistic. I have yet to satisfy myself that I have found her Baptism. 1852 in Lenham seems most likely: mnother's forename is Mary and father's is William which ties in with William Austen being one of the witnesses at Alice's wedding, but another witness was an Ann Austen and I haven't found a sister named Ann for Alice. I like to be fairly sure before I add records to my Legacy family file so I won't add the Lenham Baptism to Alice just yet.
Until next time ... cheers!
Firstly, I was looking at the family of Joseph Ashbee (born about 1800 in Kent) who married Jane Faith (born 1804 in Kent) who was my ½ 1st Cousin 5 times removed (!). Joseph and Jane, who married in 1826, had 6 children, 5 of whom survived to appear with them in the 1841 Census. But then where did they go? I thought I might have found Joseph and 2 of his sons in 1851, but I wasn't convinced and where was Jane?
After a while, I discovered that the family had emigrated to the United States and settled in Madison, New Haven County, Connecticut. I have yet to discover whether all 5 children went with them, but certainly the youngest 2 did. These were James Douglas Ashbee and Emma Elizabeth Ann Ashbee. I still have work to do on this family, but I know that James married and that he and his parents can be found on the Find A Grave website. James must have done quite well for himself because he had sufficient money to make several journeys between England and the United States and a welcome find on Ancestry was his application for a passport, which included a photograph of him. I am always thrilled to find a picture of a relative: it's lovely to know what they looked like.
I then moved on to Jane's brother Francis Faith (baptised 1897 in Denton, Kent.) I had found his marriage to Alice Austen a few years ago, but had not pursued them any further at that time. Francis and Alice are slightly less common names so I thought they should be fairly easy to track. First of all I found them in 1841, living in Denton as expected and Francis described as a Farmer. Living with them was a 6 yr-old child named Mary Faith, This appears to be their daughter, but surprising that they apparently only had one child after about 17 years of marriage!
The baptism of Mary Ann Faith in 1835 to parents Francis & Alice suggests that the Mary of the Census is indeed their daughter, but rather surprisingly Francis is described as an Innkeeper, living "up the hill from Folkestone" and the Baptism took place in Folkestone. I then found what appeared to be Francis's death, but if it is him, he was then living in Canterbury. So then to find Alice in 1851: I was pleased to see her in Canterbury, and with her daughter Mary Ann, but was brought up short when I saw her age of 45, which would mean she was born in 1805 or 1806. I rushed off to check whether I'd made a mistake in the marriage date, which I had recorded as 1817! I knew she had married "with the consent of parents" but even so ...! Yes, the marriage date was correct, so if this is indeed the right person, she followed the well-worn tradition of ladies knocking a few years off here and there.
When she died in 1857, her age was given (in the Death Index on the GRO website) as 56, which seems much more realistic. I have yet to satisfy myself that I have found her Baptism. 1852 in Lenham seems most likely: mnother's forename is Mary and father's is William which ties in with William Austen being one of the witnesses at Alice's wedding, but another witness was an Ann Austen and I haven't found a sister named Ann for Alice. I like to be fairly sure before I add records to my Legacy family file so I won't add the Lenham Baptism to Alice just yet.
Until next time ... cheers!
Monday 13 February 2017
In the beginning ...
I'm rather shocked to find it is actually some years since I first decided to create a blog (inspired by a Legacy Family Tree webinar) and set the process in motion ... but never quite got as far as making my first post. A few days ago I decided it was really time I got on with it and began to think seriously about what I would write.
My research encompasses any and all the relatives of my four grandparents who were, on the paternal side, Francis John Dodd (born in Kent, England in 1889) and Mildred Fanny Chandler (also born in Kent, in 1887) and on the maternal side, Edward Thomas Paul (born in Cheshire in 1875) and Edith Gertrude Bloor (also born in Cheshire, in 1878.)
I intend to write not just about my researches and my discoveries concerning my own family but anything to do with genealogy or family history which arises along the way and which might be of interest - if only to me!
Until next time ... cheers!
My research encompasses any and all the relatives of my four grandparents who were, on the paternal side, Francis John Dodd (born in Kent, England in 1889) and Mildred Fanny Chandler (also born in Kent, in 1887) and on the maternal side, Edward Thomas Paul (born in Cheshire in 1875) and Edith Gertrude Bloor (also born in Cheshire, in 1878.)
I intend to write not just about my researches and my discoveries concerning my own family but anything to do with genealogy or family history which arises along the way and which might be of interest - if only to me!
Until next time ... cheers!
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